One of the main Muslim Brotherhood organs in the United States is the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). Like all Brotherhood groups, its goal is to spread Islam whilst destroying its place of dwelling from within. One of the areas of the U.S. that ICNA is focused on is the South, particularly the Southeast. This month, the organization will be holding what it calls its 14thSouthern Islamic Convention, an event disguised as moderation but steeped in radical Islam.

ICNA has local chapters across the United States. ICNA’s Southeast division is based in Norcross, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. As such, it is also known as ICNA-Atlanta. Prior to moving its operations to Georgia, the Southeast division was run out of Florida. Given the group’s past, it had reason to move.

ICNA-Southeast or ICNA-SE didn’t waste any time in spreading its brand of fanaticism. It launched its website, in March of 2000, with a link on its homepage to Qoqaz.net (Jihad in Chechnya), a violent site that was raising funds and recruiting fighters for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Along with the link was a message, which stated in part, “We must show our spiritual and material support for our brothers and sisters being oppressed by Russian forces.” The message with the link stayed up on the homepage for at least two weeks and two days following the 9/11 attacks.

According to Section 2339B of U.S. Code, Title 18, “Whoever, within the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, knowinglyprovides material support or resources to a foreign terroristorganization, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be finedunder this title or imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both,and, if the death of any person results, shall be imprisoned forany term of years or for life.”

Soon, ICNA-SE would add homepage links to the official websites of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban. At the time, both Hamas and Hezbollah were on the U.S. State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). As well, ICNA-SE linked to the official site of Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), a.k.a. Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), who the State Department lists as a “Group of Concern” for its ties to Al-Qaeda and its numerous terrorist attacks against American troops in Afghanistan.

The ICNA-SE website was removed from the internet in June of 2003, soon to be replaced by a brand new site in September of the same year. The website was no longer being produced in Florida, and gone were the links to terrorist organizations. However, the new Georgia-based site had its own problems.

Published on the new ICNA-SE site was a copy of Syed Abul Ala Maududi’s infamous tract, Towards Understanding Islam. Maududi is the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), otherwise known as the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan, the same group that ICNA was modeled after. In the book, Maududi writes of Islamically sanctioned violence. He states, “The greatest sacrifice made in the way of G-d is jihad. In it man sacrifices not only his own life and belongings, but destroys those of others as well.”

On November 28th through the 30th, ICNA will be holding its 14th Southern Islamic Convention, at the Hilton Atlanta Airport Hotel. The event, titled ‘Islam: The Path of Moderation,’ is being co-sponsored by the local chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS), another U.S. Brotherhood organ.

One of the featured speakers for the convention is Yusuf Islahi. ICNA-SE conceals Islahi’s role in ICNA and the Brotherhood, describing him on its site as “a well known scholar from India.” For JI, he is a member of the central leadership, the Markazi Majlis-e-Shoora, of the JI-Hind, the Indian branch of JI. And for ICNA, he is the Chief Patron of Why Islam (WI), ICNA’s religious outreach organization.

Indeed, ICNA has never relinquished its connection to JI. That is significant, given the fact that JI openly supports Hamas financially, and ICNA itself has been tied to the funds.

Recently, a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document bearing ICNA’s name was produced by the U.S. Justice Department. It reads, “The Ikhwan [Brothers] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and G-d’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

ICNA’s Southern strategy is no different than its strategy for the rest of the country. While ICNA holds its convention in Atlanta, the group will plot other events just as hateful, just as extremist-filled.

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